Gun Activists Say: Obama Is Raising a Private Black Army to Massacre White People

You may think you’ve seen some incredible batshit crazy right wing rants, but this one deserves some kind of award. Maybe we should call it the Wacko Award.

Larry Pratt of the NRA’s less politically correct alter ego Gun Owners of America went on the Talk to Solomon Show with wingnut blogger Greg W. Howard yesterday, to push a fear-mongering fantasy about President Obama confiscating guns because he wants to provoke a violent response so that he can round up right wingers and imprison them, en masse.

Pratt predicted that President Obama may begin confiscating guns in order to provoke a violent response to justify further oppression, which host Stan Solomon feared would lead to the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of people.

Pratt once again insisted that Obama is acting like King George III, a sentiment with which Solomon concurred, saying, “That will happen quickly and they will wipe those people out to set an example.”

But Solomon wasn’t finished: “I believe they will put together a racial force to go against an opposite race resistance, basically a black force to go against a white resistance, and then they will claim anyone resisting the black force they are doing it because they are racist.”

Howard agreed: “You may be right because he has been sowing the seeds of racial hatred; we were healing quite well as a nation on racial issues until Obama came along and now we have a lot of racial discord.”

Gun Owners of America president Larry Pratt then proceeded to agree, and threatened the families of Obama’s imaginary black soldiers.

Pratt agreed with their insane ramblings: “I do agree that the Obama administration would definitely be capable of something as evil as you were suggesting.”

However, Pratt warned that “a lot of people resolved, ‘no more free Wacos,’” and that if Obama “starts playing the massacre game the way you did at Waco, well, you’re going to get surrounded, you won’t be able to go home safely, your family won’t be safe.”

But Solomon wasn’t finished: “I believe they will put together a racial force to go against an opposite race resistance, basically a black force to go against a white resistance, and then they will claim anyone resisting the black force they are doing it because they are racist.”

I think he’s more upset at the prospect of being called a racist, which is clearly true, than he is at the prospect of being imprisoned or ‘wiped out’, which is highly unlikely.

Howard agreed: “You may be right because he has been sowing the seeds of racial hatred; we were healing quite well as a nation on racial issues until Obama came along and now we have a lot of racial discord.”

We have a lot of racial discord in the Obama era because it turns out that there are an alarming number of white racists in the US who have completely and vocally lost their tiny minds since 2008.

However, Pratt warned that “a lot of people resolved, ‘no more free Wacos,’” and that if Obama “starts playing the massacre game the way you did at Waco, well, you’re going to get surrounded, you won’t be able to go home safely, your family won’t be safe.”

…be construed as a threat against the President and/or First Family’s lives?

@GregWHoward I hereby declare the Govt of the United States to be destructive of our liberty and move to abolish and start over. #tcot#ocra

This idea, that the people themselves have the option to choose the makeup of the federal government of the United States, is intriguing. Perhaps we should try it.

Say, and I’m just throwing this out there… say several candidates shall campaign for each office, and each adult shall have the opportunity to cast a single vote, and whichever candidate gets the most votes shall hold that office until such time as the next scheduled vote.

We have a lot of racial discord in the Obama era because it turns out that there are an alarming number of white racists in the US who have completely and vocally lost their tiny minds since 2008.

THIS. SO MUCH.

I mean, I live in Texas. I knew there were still a lot of ignorant rednecks and bigots in this country, because they’re around here. There are parts of East Texas where I’d rather have some of those spare fuel tanks for your car on hand than stop and fill up at the local gas station.

But 2008 really showed how backwards a lot of people in this country still are. All this bullshit the right has been spewing about REAL AMERICA since 2008 is nothing but code for White America. They lost their goddamn minds when a black man became POTUS and they haven’t been able to cope since.

I mean, I live in Texas. I knew there were still a lot of ignorant rednecks and bigots in this country, because they’re around here. There are parts of East Texas where I’d rather have some of those spare fuel tanks for your car on hand than stop and fill up at the local gas station.

This idea, that the people themselves have the option to choose the makeup of the federal government of the United States, is intriguing. Perhaps we should try it.

Say, and I’m just throwing this out there… say several candidates shall campaign for each office, and each adult shall have the opportunity to cast a single vote, and whichever candidate gets the most votes shall hold that office until such time as the next scheduled vote.

By “adult,” you mean us makers, right? Because I don’t think anybody who doesn’t have a job should be allowed to vote. Too much incentive to vote for goodies. And we should consider stripping the vote away from women, because their emotions don’t allow them to consider things logically. And these minorities are voting for “justice,” which is what’s perpetuating all this racial animosity. Not to mention we can’t allow Muslims the vote, because they can’t be trusted to support America. So by “adult,” we should clarify it as all white, land-owning Christian males will have a single vote. Perhaps even multiple votes if they’re job producers, because they’re voting for their employees as well.

What a sweetheart this shmuck @LiberateTheUSA is:
#Tyranny has come to America. I block #Lefties. I retweet haters. My favorite shadowy conservative groups are #Resist44 & #TGDN The #WAR for America has begun!

Great news breaking in Fairfax County this morning. Electoral Boards are split 2-1 in Virginia, one Republican, one Democrat and one member of the Governor’s party. When Bob McDonnell was elected, the Fairfax GOP placed noted voter-fraud conspiracy theorist Hans Von Spakovsky on the electoral board in the largest county in Virginia. The result was massive lines at polling places with minority (Democratic) voters, while most GOP leaning precincts were able to go in and quickly vote with little wait time.

Long story short, the guy was replaced because he was so obviously corrupt.

Von Spakovsky remains a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, so he’s not out of a job yet.

What is the line where “2nd Amendment Solutions” are justified and you’re not just another Chris Dorner nut who decides to take on the police, or the IRS or the post office in the name of oppression?

You say the purpose of a well regulated militia is to take on a tyrannical government. This being the same government which gunnuts have forced to spend trillions on defense, meaning tanks, drones, satellites, etc. Also look at the historical evidence that no militia has ever won a military campaign against a trained army.

So lets say you take to the streets to oppose tyranny, killing American citizens and soldiers to “take back America.” What next? You think the whole US military is going to defect to your side? You’re going to beat the whole US military on your own? Better yet, you think you’re going to rally international support to your side against the government? Yeah, a bunch of religious xenophobes who’ve been behind every “police action” we’ve waged for the last half century are really going to have the nations of the world lining up behind them to fight the US military on their behalf.

Go fuck off to your survival compounds and sod off, you fucking morons.

What is the line where “2nd Amendment Solutions” are justified and you’re not just another Chris Dorner nut who decides to take on the police, or the IRS or the post office in the name of oppression?

You say the purpose of a well regulated militia is to take on a tyrannical government. This being the same government which gunnuts have forced to spend trillions on defense, meaning tanks, drones, satellites, etc. Also look at the historical evidence that no militia has ever won a military campaign against a trained army.

So lets say you take to the streets to oppose tyranny, killing American citizens and soldiers to “take back America.” What next? You think the whole US military is going to defect to your side? You’re going to beat the whole US military on your own? Better yet, you think you’re going to rally international support to your side against the government? Yeah, a bunch of religious xenophobes who’ve been behind every “police action” we’ve waged for the last half century are really going to have the nations of the world lining up behind them to fight the US military on their behalf.

Go fuck off to your survival compounds and sod off, you fucking morons.

The idea that citizen gun nuts can be guardians of liberty against an oppressive US government is a wingnut fever dream.

If you want to be a revolutionary in the US, you’ll need to suborn the military, which will be very difficult. Not so incidentally, wingnuts are actually trying this, e.g., getting Christian Warrior nonsense into the service academies.

Wonder how much money out of the cuts aimed at the DoD might be made up by just canceling that abomination?

Probably little or none. The structure of DoD acquisition contracts is such that it is far more expensive to abandon a weapon system than to finish it for the Army-Navy Surplus stores after a few development milestones.

I know, because Lockheed has plowed enough money into Congress to build a second Capital Building and still have money left over to gold plate the dome. It’s the most expensive “make-work” program in modern history.

Nah. Every generation or three, we actually need the world’s most powerful military.

It is difficult to find real numbers for this on short notice, but the US is so far ahead of every other nation on military spending that we could probably absorb 10x the sequester in defense spending cuts before there would be any chance of getting out of the “#1 military power by a wide margin” category.

Nah. Every generation or three, we actually need the world’s most powerful military.

Which is rather why, for much of the nation’s history, we had no standing army. The initial worry over a standing army was partially justified, as having one leads governments to view one as a tool of diplomacy, rather than as a last resort. The threat of war has become virtually a given now when the US takes interest in a region.

It is difficult to find real numbers for this on short notice, but the US is so far ahead of every other nation on military spending that we could probably absorb 10x the sequester in defense spending cuts before there would be any chance of getting out of the “#1 military power by a wide margin” category.

The relationship between military spending and military power is not especially linear.

It is difficult to find real numbers for this on short notice, but the US is so far ahead of every other nation on military spending that we could probably absorb 10x the sequester in defense spending cuts before there would be any chance of getting out of the “#1 military power by a wide margin” category.

IIRC, our military $ volume is larger than the GDP of “most of the rest of the world”

This is not going to get better. These racially motivated gun freaks are going to provoke some reaction by the government by commiting or threatening acts of violence.

And when the government is compelled by their violence and/or threats to do its legal and constitutional duty by cracking down on this clear and present danger to our citizens’ safety and security, it will be pumped up and presented as final proof of their conspiracy theory.

This is not going to get better. These racially motivated gun freaks are going to provoke some reaction by the government by commiting or threatening acts of violence.

And when the government is compelled by their violence and/or threats to do its legal and constitutional duty by cracking down on this clear and present danger to our citizens’ safety and security, it will be pumped up and presented as final proof of their conspiracy theory.

exactly, I think they want it all to happen before the end of the current term, so they can swing the next election their way.

And when the cuts set in and the economy again takes a nosedive, what can the GOP say? “If we cut more, the confidence fairy will grant us increased investment and more jobs?” We keep cutting, but the fairy remains MIA.

This is not going to get better. These racially motivated gun freaks are going to provoke some reaction by the government by commiting or threatening acts of violence.

And when the government is compelled by their violence and/or threats to do its legal and constitutional duty by cracking down on this clear and present danger to our citizens’ safety and security, it will be pumped up and presented as final proof of their conspiracy theory.

This rings true. For many of these nuts, every militia compound could be the next Ft. Sumter.

Chorus:
I want to go to Andorra, Andorra, Andorra,
I want to go to Andorra, it’s a place I adore,
They spent four dollars and ninety cents
On armaments and their defense,
Did you ever hear of such confidence?
Andorra, hip hurrah!

In the mountains of the Pyrenees
There’s an independent state,
Its population five thousand souls,
And I think they’re simply great.
One hundred and seventy square miles big
And it’s awf’lly dear to me.
Spends less than five dollars on armaments,
And this I’ve got to see.

(Chorus)

It’s governed by a council,
All gentle souls and wise,
They’ve only five dollars for armaments
And the rest for cakes and pies;
They didn’t invest in a tommy gun
Or a plane to sweep the sky,
But they bought some blanks for their cap pistols
To shoot on their Fourth of July.

(Chorus)

They live by the arts of farm and field
And by making shoes and hats,
And they haven’t got room in their tiny land
For a horde of diplomats;
They haven’t got room in their tiny land
For armies to march about,
And if anyone comes with a war budget
They throw the rascals out.

Not to mention the R&D cost of innovation. The Manhattan Project ate a tangible part of our GDP. Now any shitthole nation can take a stab at Fat Man. (Looking at you, Norks.)

For this reason, I tend to be more accommodating of cash spent on crazy pie-in-the-sky programs like F-35, compared to cash spent blowing up and then rebuilding and then blowing up some damned bridge on the other side of the world.

For this reason, I tend to be more accommodating of cash spent on crazy pie-in-the-sky programs like F-35, compared to cash spent blowing up and then rebuilding and then blowing up some damned bridge on the other side of the world.

when we have enough of our own infrastructure that needs rebuilding. . .

For this reason, I tend to be more accommodating of cash spent on crazy pie-in-the-sky programs like F-35, compared to cash spent blowing up and then rebuilding and then blowing up some damned bridge on the other side of the world.

In my perfect world we have a hellish monster force, and we never, ever use it.

Look theres no reason to fear these guys,I have it on good authority that Capt.Jonathan Archer and T’Pol are coming back in time to fix this mess that the Reptilian and Insectoid races of the Zyndi caused.Instead of stealing a truck I’m going to loan them one of my cars. So it’s ok Starfleet is in the case…

Not to mention the R&D cost of innovation. The Manhattan Project ate a tangible part of our GDP. Now any shitthole nation can take a stab at Fat Man. (Looking at you, Norks.)

The Manhattan Project also produced two bombs in 4 years. This turkey’s already 7 years and 70% over budget, and the first squadron isn’t set to go operational for another 3-4 years. The price per plane is now such that Lockheed will need to sell 3,000-4,000 of them just to break even.

“In a effort to rid Guam of the brown tree snake, which have overrun the island, officials have begun air-dropping mice laced with poison and fitted with parachutes. Because sometimes the best solution is the simplest one.”
— Seth MyersSaturday Night Live

No parachutes likely—mice are pre-deaded. (Suspect that mice have such a low terminal velocity that most would make it if dropped alive. Teaching them to do a good parachute landing fall would be a bitch, though.)

No parachutes likely—mice are pre-deaded. (Suspect that mice have such a low terminal velocity that most would make it if dropped alive. Teaching them to do a good parachute landing fall would be a bitch, though.)

I don’t know. The parachutes would help in that it will make the dead mice get snagged on the top cover of jungle foliage. That’s what you want. They’re already setting traps.

Which is rather why, for much of the nation’s history, we had no standing army. The initial worry over a standing army was partially justified, as having one leads governments to view one as a tool of diplomacy, rather than as a last resort. The threat of war has become virtually a given now when the US takes interest in a region.

With WW2 it became pretty evident we no longer had the luxury of waiting until a threat presented itself before raising an army.

Brown treesnakes are exotic invasive predators that have extirpated native forest birds and caused drastic reductions of lizards on Guam. Operational management control methods to contain the snake on Guam include the use of live traps, hand capture from fences, and canine detection. Live traps are also used to depopulate small forest plots. Toxicants offer an additional means for reducing snake populations on small plots. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic pipe bait stations containing dead neonatal mice (DNM) treated with 80 mg acetaminophen are placed about 1.5 m above the ground in vegetation to reduce exposure to terrestrial scavengers such as toads, crabs, and feral pigs. Live traps or bait stations are not practical to use in remote, large-scale areas of forest but aerial delivery of baits may have application. Small plastic parachutes have been used for entangling DNM in forest canopy but parachutes are relatively expensive and cumbersome to use. Inconveniences can be tolerated when only a small number are deployed. But it is anticipated that several thousand baits may be delivered per drop, and inconveniences must be kept to a minimum to maintain an efficient aerial drop system. We therefore evaluated 5 types or flotation materials dropped by helicopter, using DNM implanted with radio transmitters to record landing site (canopy or ground) and bait consumption by snakes and non-target animals. The types of material and percentage of baits that became entangled in the canopy were: paper ring - 39%, paper drinking cup - 50%, excelsior (wood shavings) and burlap - each 56%, and commercial paper food cup - 60%. For all devices, bat consumption by snakes ranged from 19-50% and bait consumption by non-target toads and crabs ranged from 0 - 11%. Commercial food cups were the most convenient material to use because they could be nested together prior to deployment.

Why should the Navy just “suck it up”? They’re in more dire need of replacement aircraft than the Chair Force.

The STOVL version is the real problem; F/A-18 works just fine in land service. Ask the Canadians, among others.

Now I love and respect the men and women of the United States Marine Corps, but it cannot be ignored that pretty much every procurement program they touch turns to flaming wreckage. V-22, F-35, LPD-17, EFV…

No parachutes likely—mice are pre-deaded. (Suspect that mice have such a low terminal velocity that most would make it if dropped alive. Teaching them to do a good parachute landing fall would be a bitch, though.)

Actually, they want the chutes so the mice get stuck in trees where the snakes live.

The STOVL version is the real problem; F/A-18 works just fine in land service. Ask the Canadians, among others.

Now I love and respect the men and women of the United States Marine Corps, but it cannot be ignored that pretty much every procurement program they touch turns to flaming wreckage. V-22, F-35, LPD-17, EFV…

Almost all related to the Marines desire to perform future amphibious landings from a farther point offshore than current tech allows.

Almost all related to the Marines desire to perform future amphibious landings from a farther point offshore than current tech allows.

Pretty much. Frankly, it’d take a lot of effort to convince me that we’ll ever, ever conduct another amphibious assault against meaningfully competent opposition. Cheap and cheerful is, IMHO, the right direction for the USMC. Right now we have two goddamned major land armies. That’s stupid.

Pretty much. Frankly, it’d take a lot of effort to convince me that we’ll ever, ever conduct another amphibious assault against meaningfully competent opposition. Cheap and cheerful is, IMHO, the right direction for the USMC. Right now we have two goddamned major land armies. That’s stupid.

The USMC needs to focus on remaining a compact, easily deployable response force, amphibious or otherwise. Leave the siege and occupation roles to the army.

I know it’s been a busy day of derp, but Peggy Yard Signs Noonan is having a sad, and none of yous people have noticed (h/t PM Carpenter and Balloon Juice):

But we’ve been through it before, and you wonder, again, why a triumphant president and a battered Republican House majority can’t reach a responsible agreement.

And then you remind yourself why. Because Mr. Obama thrives in chaos. He flourishes in unsettled circumstances and grooves on his own calm. He spins an air of calamity, points fingers and garners support. His only opponent is a hapless, hydra-headed House. America has a weakness for winners, and Republicans just now do not look like winners.

What a dim witted pundit Noonan is. The reason that the House GOP is seen as a pack of crazed weasels stuffed into a barrel and eating each other’s entrails is because that is exactly how they are acting.

What is unbelievable is not that these Senators don’t care, it is that they aren’t even bothering to try to hide the fact that they don’t care.

Perhaps it is because being callous is a winner with the GOP base these days.

I think most of the GOP base these days are borderline sociopaths who have difficulty empathizing with anyone different from them. The smug satisfaction and even joy they take from other people’s pain and suffering is horrifying.

I think most of the GOP base these days are borderline sociopaths who have difficulty empathizing with anyone different from them. The smug satisfaction and even joy they take from other people’s pain and suffering is horrifying.

I can’t begin to imagine what the crowd participation highlights will be like for the 2016 GOP primary season —- the 2012 version was already awful.

This is not going to get better. These racially motivated gun freaks are going to provoke some reaction by the government by commiting or threatening acts of violence.

And when the government is compelled by their violence and/or threats to do its legal and constitutional duty by cracking down on this clear and present danger to our citizens’ safety and security, it will be pumped up and presented as final proof of their conspiracy theory.

Things always get worse before they get better. But these guys are essentially cowards, and once they see the Government hammer come down in earnest, they will be curled up in the fetal position soiling their underwear.

I posted a much longer message on FB last night after enduring all I could of the paranoid ravings of some gun nuts of my acquaintance:

instead of addressing your “arguments” against gun control one post at a time, I’m just going to lay out the facts and reality of the matter.
Our Founders never envisioned a country where individuals had absolutely unlimited, unrestricted freedom. They certainly wanted to protect individual liberty as much as possible. But they also knew human societies needed governments—to provide for national defense, to promote the common good, and so on. Without government you don’t have freedom…you have anarchy. There is no “freedom” or progress in anarchy…there is only a constant struggle for survival, that spirals down and down into barbarism.
The Founders worked very hard, thought very hard, applied all their considerable intellectual acumen to creating a representative government with three branches, each limiting the powers of the others. This is their legacy to us. Not unrestricted individual liberty, but the right to govern ourselves. We elect a President, we elect Congressmen. We have unelected Supreme Court judges so they can interpret the laws without pressure from the majority to interpret them in its favor at the expense of minorities. Congress makes laws. Some of these laws may restrict our liberties. But this is not “tyranny,” because WE THE PEOPLE elected Congress to represent us and make laws on our behalf. However, the judicial branch is there to decide if a law DOES go too far. And so on.
If this system is not working, it is because WE THE PEOPLE have allowed it to stop working. We have fallen asleep at the switch. We have become lazy, uninformed, uninvolved, self-absorbed, We have STOPPED GOVERNING OURSELVES. We have allowed special interests to take over, and not just take over Congress, but take over US. We mindlessly repeat the talking points given to us by billionaires and wealthy multinational corporations that do NOT have our best interests at heart, who only care about the bottom line. These people tell us our Government is the “enemy.” But again, if the Government has really in any sense become “the enemy” (or rather, “an enemy,” because there’s clearly more than one enemy of the common people), it is because we’ve let “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” get away from us.
Think about it. Like all things, Government can be abused. Congressmen can be corrupted by big money and stop representing the people. BUT, we can vote out those Congressmen who don’t serve our interests. Big business, big banks, billionaires, etc., we have no such power over them. We can try boycotts and strikes and the like, but what they do in that case is build monopolies and force out small businesses so we are limited in where we can shop and work. The only organization with enough power to stop businesses and banks and billionaires from doing whatever they like is the Government. And the Government will only serve the interests of WE THE PEOPLE if we stop thinking of our Government as “the enemy” and start thinking of it as US, and take back control of it. Again, we do that by being informed, involved, civic-minded citizens, voting, participating in our Government.
(cont)

(cont)
Why have I gone into all this? What does it have to do with gun control? What’s my point? It’s this…in this country, the people don’t prevent a tyrannical government by being armed (but let me state for the record that NOBODY is calling for a total gun ban or for taking people’s guns away)…they prevent a tyrannical government by BEING the Government. They protect their rights, while enacting reasonable restrictions on them to prevent individual rights and liberties from infringing on the rights and liberties of others and maintain a civil society, again by BEING the Government. They exercise collective responsibility AS WELL AS individual responsibility. They recognize that sometimes they cannot do or have (or even say) every single thing they want, if society, collectively through its elected, representative Government, has determined that the untrammeled exercise of a particular liberty is detrimental to the common good, if it infringes on the rights and liberties of others. Once again…this is NOT tyranny. Tyranny is the arbitrary restriction of liberty by an unelected (or fraudulently elected), non-representative government or a dictator with unlimited powers. And again, we have the judicial branch to weigh whether society’s collective expectations, manifested in its laws, are reasonable or unwarranted intrusions on individual liberty. (In extreme circumstances, such as during an existential struggle such as the Civil War or WW2, we may collectively agree to temporarily restrict certain liberties moreso than usual, if the unrestricted exercise of that liberty is determined to be excessively detrimental to the war effort.)
If our Government is moving toward tyranny, it is not a sign we need more guns…it is a sign we need to become more involved in it, to take back government for WE THE PEOPLE. And contrary to your view, the threat of a tyrannical government is not coming from liberals, or from gun control proposals. It is coming from right-wing politicians who claim to serve your interests but actually serve billionaires and corporations (and gun manufacturers) who spend millions upon millions to convince you that THEIR best interests are YOUR best interests. You are being played, and you don’t even realize it. They convince you there are all kinds of “conspiracies” on the Left to deprive you of your rights, when the real conspiracy is that of incredibly wealthy people and corporations with no national loyalty and with massive economic and political power that you can barely conceive of. And YOU are an unwitting participant in their plans to deprive you, a member of the working or middle class, of ever more economic and political power so they can continue to do whatever they want and more.
And here you are, working WITH them by calling YOUR Government…YOUR most powerful tool against these interests to ensure YOUR rights and liberties…your most effective avenue for collective action to secure your future and that of your descendants (there are others, such as unions and other political organizations, but Government of the people, by the people and for the people is #1 by far)…the primary means by which the people build and protect a stable society with a reasonably level playing field on which they can pursue dreams and opportunities—“the ENEMY.” The legacy bequeathed to us by the Founders has become, to you, not your Government to be taken back, but an enemy to be battled and destroyed.And what then? You’ll be free? No, you’ll be subject to the tyranny of those with vastly more money and resources than you, who are not beholden to you in any way, shape or form (except as consumers and customers, which, with them making the rules, won’t mean squat).
And all your guns will not make a bit of difference against them.
(Cont)

P.S. One reason you want guns is because they give you a feeling of control. But again…our Founders set up a government that gave you, the common person, more power than the common people since the dawn of human civilization ever dared dream of. And by making that government “the enemy,” you are pissing that power away for what is a very, very limited amount of “control.”

I posted a much longer message on FB last night after enduring all I could of the paranoid ravings of some gun nuts of my acquaintance:

instead of addressing your “arguments” against gun control one post at a time, I’m just going to lay out the facts and reality of the matter.
Our Founders never envisioned a country where individuals had absolutely unlimited, unrestricted freedom. They certainly wanted to protect individual liberty as much as possible. But they also knew human societies needed governments—to provide for national defense, to promote the common good, and so on. Without government you don’t have freedom…you have anarchy. There is no “freedom” or progress in anarchy…there is only a constant struggle for survival, that spirals down and down into barbarism.
The Founders worked very hard, thought very hard, applied all their considerable intellectual acumen to creating a representative government with three branches, each limiting the powers of the others. This is their legacy to us. Not unrestricted individual liberty, but the right to govern ourselves. We elect a President, we elect Congressmen. We have unelected Supreme Court judges so they can interpret the laws without pressure from the majority to interpret them in its favor at the expense of minorities. Congress makes laws. Some of these laws may restrict our liberties. But this is not “tyranny,” because WE THE PEOPLE elected Congress to represent us and make laws on our behalf. However, the judicial branch is there to decide if a law DOES go too far. And so on.
If this system is not working, it is because WE THE PEOPLE have allowed it to stop working. We have fallen asleep at the switch. We have become lazy, uninformed, uninvolved, self-absorbed, We have STOPPED GOVERNING OURSELVES. We have allowed special interests to take over, and not just take over Congress, but take over US. We mindlessly repeat the talking points given to us by billionaires and wealthy multinational corporations that do NOT have our best interests at heart, who only care about the bottom line. These people tell us our Government is the “enemy.” But again, if the Government has really in any sense become “the enemy” (or rather, “an enemy,” because there’s clearly more than one enemy of the common people), it is because we’ve let “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” get away from us.
Think about it. Like all things, Government can be abused. Congressmen can be corrupted by big money and stop representing the people. BUT, we can vote out those Congressmen who don’t serve our interests. Big business, big banks, billionaires, etc., we have no such power over them. We can try boycotts and strikes and the like, but what they do in that case is build monopolies and force out small businesses so we are limited in where we can shop and work. The only organization with enough power to stop businesses and banks and billionaires from doing whatever they like is the Government. And the Government will only serve the interests of WE THE PEOPLE if we stop thinking of our Government as “the enemy” and start thinking of it as US, and take back control of it. Again, we do that by being informed, involved, civic-minded citizens, voting, participating in our Government.
(cont)

(cont)
…
And here you are, working WITH them by calling YOUR Government…YOUR most powerful tool against these interests to ensure YOUR rights and liberties…your most effective avenue for collective action to secure your future and that of your descendants (there are others, such as unions and other political organizations, but Government of the people, by the people and for the people is #1 by far)…the primary means by which the people build and protect a stable society with a reasonably level playing field on which they can pursue dreams and opportunities—“the ENEMY.” The legacy bequeathed to us by the Founders has become, to you, not your Government to be taken back, but an enemy to be battled and destroyed.And what then? You’ll be free? No, you’ll be subject to the tyranny of those with vastly more money and resources than you, who are not beholden to you in any way, shape or form (except as consumers and customers, which, with them making the rules, won’t mean squat).
And all your guns will not make a bit of difference against them.
(Cont)

QFT. The gun nuts are one subset of the useful idiots the real GOP needs to dupe in order to enact its agenda.

DEADLY TOXIC, POISONOUS BABY MICE TO BE AIR DROPPED BY US GOVERNMENT SCIENTISTS POSSIBLY ON THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF GUAM NEARBY AMERICAN AIR FORCE BASE IN AN EFFORT TO ERADICATE AN INVASIVE SNAKE SPECIES!

Let alone the fact that this is NOT being done to “exterminate Guam’s venomous snakes.” It’s an invasive species that’s destroying the current ecology. It’s also threatening to work it’s way to Hawaii which could be devastating. That and the reports also indicated that the goal of this is not to completely eradicate this snake but it is just an added tool of sorts. Eventual eradication would be a goal however.

The snake problems are severe and this plan sounds like it has potential. In the case of poisoning the critters, there should be little collateral damage with acetaminophen since it is generally non-toxic to most species AFAIK and there is no secondary or tertiary kill potential. It should have no toxic environmental effects. The biggest problem I see is getting the snakes to take the bait in large enough numbers to get control over the population. Many snakes will not go for already dead prey and this is born out by their own research numbers with a high of 50% accepting the bait. That isn’t enough for long term control.

No parachutes likely—mice are pre-deaded. (Suspect that mice have such a low terminal velocity that most would make it if dropped alive. Teaching them to do a good parachute landing fall would be a bitch, though.)

The terminal velocity of a mouse in atmosphere should be quite a bit faster than a human, and dropping a mouse from 4 feet onto carpet will fatally injure them about a quarter of the time.

No, I don’t torture mice for a living, but I do feed them to snakes, and they’ll occasionally get away from me and break their backs or necks when they hit the carpet.

The terminal velocity of a mouse in atmosphere should be quite a bit faster than a human, and dropping a mouse from 4 feet onto carpet will fatally injure them about a quarter of the time.

No, I don’t torture mice for a living, but I do feed them to snakes, and they’ll occasionally get away from me and break their backs or necks when they hit the carpet.

Don’t have data on mice, was extrapolating from the difference in survival between cats and humans. We are right on the edge of surviving our 200g or so impact from our range of terminal velocities—that’s where the handful of validated stories come from. Recently read that cats do much better, with frequent survival from height. The trick is to teach the mice to hit a stable spread and avoid a max track. Wingsuits for them would be too expensive.

Just had an idea… snakes go for live prey. Live mice with acetaminophen injected implants could be released. Release only male mice to prevent introducing another problem species. The problem would be the implant - it would have to dissolve in the snakes’ guts but not under the meeces skin. Hmmm…

Just had an idea… snakes go for live prey. Live mice with acetaminophen injected implants could be released. Release only male mice to prevent introducing another problem species. The problem would be the implant - it would have to dissolve in the snakes’ guts but not under the meeces skin. Hmmm…

I had this idea long ago that we could turn the ancient forests into cemeteries. People could pay big bucks to be buried at the base of an ancient tree. There would be money to keep-up land and plant more trees, THE TREES would be protected because they are in a cemetery and because the cost of untangling the roots from the caskets would be cost-preventative AND most of all I liked the idea of becoming one with the tree in death.

Just had an idea… snakes go for live prey. Live mice with acetaminophen injected implants could be released. Release only male mice to prevent introducing another problem species. The problem would be the implant - it would have to dissolve in the snakes’ guts but not under the meeces skin. Hmmm…

Assuming that mice can’t digest bone, sealing it in a bone-like material would do what you suggest, since snakes completely digest bone.

I had this idea long ago that we could turn the ancient forests into cemeteries. People could pay big bucks to be buried at the base of an ancient tree. There would be money to keep-up land and plant more trees, THE TREES would be protected because they are in a cemetery and because the cost of untangling the roots from the caskets would be cost-preventative AND most of all I liked the idea of becoming one with the tree in death.

That’s part of the plan of the Florida brothers’ place. They intend to make their land ‘undevelopable’ to satisfy their dad’s wishes. Part of the strategy is to be a little sloppy about marking the exact burials.

That’s part of the plan of the Florida brothers’ place. They intend to make their land ‘undevelopable’ to satisfy their dad’s wishes. Part of the strategy is to be a little sloppy about marking the exact burials.

very cool! But I’d want my tree marked. I have this idea that people could say “hi” to me when they walk by. Makes me smile.

In a medical breakthrough that should come as welcome news for millions of at-risk Americans, University of Pennsylvania cardiologists announced Tuesday that taking one aspirin tablet and a fifth of bourbon daily can “significantly reduce” an individual’s awareness of heart attacks.

When my gf was in the hospital for major surgery last month, they gave her liquid acetaminophen in her IV. She said it worked very well. I thought that either she has a very high pain tolerance, or it is some special acetaminophen. Then I wondered why they were using it as they big thing lately has been concern for the liver because of the stuff.

When my gf was in the hospital for major surgery last month, they gave her liquid acetaminophen in her IV. She said it worked very well. I thought that either she has a very high pain tolerance, or it is some special acetaminophen. Then I wondered why they were using it as they big thing lately has been concern for the liver because of the stuff.

When my gf was in the hospital for major surgery last month, they gave her liquid acetaminophen in her IV. She said it worked very well. I thought that either she has a very high pain tolerance, or it is some special acetaminophen. Then I wondered why they were using it as they big thing lately has been concern for the liver because of the stuff.

I think a lot of the concern was because people don’t pay attention to what they are taking and can easily take a couple things that contain acetaminophen without realizing they are doubling up on their dose.

I had a knee replacement and because narcotics and I don’t play well together I used only extra strength Tylenol and ice packs after I got home (48 hours after the surgery.) I was amazed at how well it controlled the pain.

I had this idea long ago that we could turn the ancient forests into cemeteries. People could pay big bucks to be buried at the base of an ancient tree. There would be money to keep-up land and plant more trees, THE TREES would be protected because they are in a cemetery and because the cost of untangling the roots from the caskets would be cost-preventative AND most of all I liked the idea of becoming one with the tree in death.

we buried a deceased puddy right underneath a new tree we were planting

i like to think that many years from now somebody could be carving the root of that tree and find puddy’s bones embedded in the wood

I think Pratt is largely a fringe figure. If you’re too insane for Pat Buchanan, that’s really fringe. And I had never heard of Stan Solomon or Greg Howard until now. My guess is that Solomon’s show is carried on stations that are at 1400 and above on the am band, where he may even pay for airtime.

Also, Gun Owners of America claim to have 300,000 members. The NRA, by contrast, has recently claimed to have more than 4,000,000 - a figure many have disputed, but I think it’s safe to say that the NRA has about ten times as many members as does GOA. This is not to suggest that the NRA hasn’t been guilty of wingnuttery in the past, but I think even this scenario postulated by Pratt and company in this videos is too far out there even for the NRA.

So while we should be concerned about people spewing nonsense like this - 300,000 is still a lot of people - in the big picture, it’s a tiny audience.

On the 22nd of February, Code Pink continued a week of protests
against US drone murders with a visit to the Pakistani Embassy. After a
few speeched outside in the rain, the Ambassador invited everyone in for
tea and to discuss the drones.

A number of the activists present at the Embassy were Pakistani
themselves, and several of the Code Pink members who were in Pakistan
with Imrad Kahn’s march to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas were
also present.

The Ambassador called the drone strikes a violation of Pakistan’s
sovereignty. An activist from Catholic Worker apologized on behalf of
the American people for the murderous drone strikes.

One of the other activists suggested the possiblity that Pakistan could
demand an end to drone strikes as a precondition of permitting the US to
continue using the Khyber Pass route to move heavy equipment into and
out of Afghanistan.

Oy. It’s not the drones it’s war. War kills people. Drones in fact are lowering collateral damage. War is not murder unless decided up by the ICC. The quickest way to ending the use of drones is a path to peace. To that end, it is incumbent on Al Qaeda and the Taliban to surrender. I’ll wait.

Forget threats of furloughed workers or reduced security at embassies.

Here’s what might be the most powerful incentive yet for members of Congress to come up with a deal to avert the sequester: the head of the Air Force today warned that the spending cuts that will go into effect March 1 could cause the military to eliminate those lovely miljet flights that lawmakers enjoy.

Members of Congress adore flying on Air Force jets, particularly for overseas trips — there are no security lines, check-in is a breeze, the service couldn’t be better, and it’s business class-only.

But if the government-wide cuts aren’t thwarted and the military has to pinch pennies, lawmakers might have to kiss those perks goodbye, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told the crowd at the Air Force Association’s winter conference in Orlando, Fla., we’re told.

Fly commercial? The horror.

And if members of Congress are forced into such dire circumstances, they’re in for even more delays. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood cautioned on Friday that the sequester could cause major backups in airports around the country.

Oy. It’s not the drones it’s war. War kills people. Drones in fact are lowering collateral damage. War is not murder unless decided up by the ICC. The quickest way to ending the use of drones is a path to peace. To that end, it is incumbent on Al Qaeda and the Taliban to surrender. I’ll wait.

The moonbats also fail to notice that the the Pakistani ambassador is blowing smoke up their asses. The Pakistani government quietly endorses the strikes and only complains for domestic political reasons…and to appease the occasional moonbat.

Good. I hope it fucks up their day in more ways than that. I really wish their fucking pay was suspended til they quit trying to sabotage the President. Fat chance I know, but if they’re going to fuck with so many they should feel it too.

Was cutting tree branches. Thought I was being safe - put in an anchor line on the branch, made sure I had two feet of extension ladder beyond the branch.

Anchor line let go, branch climbed three feet, I fell ten feet. I tried to roll as 30 year old instinct took over, and I actually did it right — except that I dropped into mud which seized my right foot and held it in place.

Fortunately the break did not puncture the skin. But this jobless, insuranceless man is about to go through a lot of fun (///).

Anyway, the most amusing thing is that one of the first thoughts that went through my head after the “snap” was wondering if I’d one-upped you with my stupidity (grin). So of course I have to share.

The moonbats also fail to notice that the the Pakistani ambassador is blowing smoke up their asses. The Pakistani government quietly endorses the strikes and only complains for domestic political reasons…and to appease the occasional moonbat.

“Al-Qaeda commander Mustafa Abu al-Yazid claimed responsibility for the attack…” that killed Benazir Bhutto. Anyone that thinks that Pakistan is “cool” with Al Qaeda is fooling themselves. Al Qaeda doesn’t want to negotiate. That’s not what they’re about. It’s a fight to the finish. The Taliban on the other hand may be more manageable.

Was cutting tree branches. Thought I was being safe - put in an anchor line on the branch, made sure I had two feet of extension ladder beyond the branch.

Anchor line let go, branch climbed three feet, I fell ten feet. I tried to roll as 30 year old instinct took over, and I actually did it right — except that I dropped into mud which seized my right foot and held it in place.

Fortunately the break did not puncture the skin. But this jobless, insuranceless man is about to go through a lot of fun (///).

Anyway, the most amusing thing is that one of the first thoughts that went through my head after the “snap” was wondering if I’d one-upped you with my stupidity (grin). So of course I have to share.

OK, on to the subject at hand. I have several concerns regarding the use of drones. They’re strategic in nature, because tactically they make a lot of sense.

Basically, I’m afraid that drones will finish cutting the break lines on declarations of war. They’re easy, from our point of view they are pretty much bloodless, and as a result Congress doesn’t get much pressure to tell the president to wait for a declaration of war.

And since drones suffer the same problem as aircraft it puts us in a major potential bind. That problem, by the way, is that it takes a couple of boots on the ground to actually hold that piece of ground. Air, barring genocide, does not conclude wars. Air power advocates have argued “this time is different” pretty much since they began trying, but it doesn’t work.

Add to this the easy way this can slip over into domestic use. From surveillance only to heavily overseen overwatch to … I dunno.

It annoys me that I find myself in agreement with Senator Rand, but stopped clocks and all that.

Was cutting tree branches. Thought I was being safe - put in an anchor line on the branch, made sure I had two feet of extension ladder beyond the branch.

Anchor line let go, branch climbed three feet, I fell ten feet. I tried to roll as 30 year old instinct took over, and I actually did it right — except that I dropped into mud which seized my right foot and held it in place.

Fortunately the break did not puncture the skin. But this jobless, insuranceless man is about to go through a lot of fun (///).

Anyway, the most amusing thing is that one of the first thoughts that went through my head after the “snap” was wondering if I’d one-upped you with my stupidity (grin). So of course I have to share.

It’s a good thing you’re all Lizards and not Horses. Otherwise, we’d have to take a more stringent solution.

OK, on to the subject at hand. I have several concerns regarding the use of drones. They’re strategic in nature, because tactically they make a lot of sense.

Basically, I’m afraid that drones will finish cutting the break lines on declarations of war. They’re easy, from our point of view they are pretty much bloodless, and as a result Congress doesn’t get much pressure to tell the president to wait for a declaration of war.

And since drones suffer the same problem as aircraft it puts us in a major potential bind. That problem, by the way, is that it takes a couple of boots on the ground to actually hold that piece of ground. Air, barring genocide, does not conclude wars. Air power advocates have argued “this time is different” pretty much since they began trying, but it doesn’t work.

Add to this the easy way this can slip over into domestic use. From surveillance only to heavily overseen overwatch to … I dunno.

It annoys me that I find myself in agreement with Senator Rand, but stopped clocks and all that.

It’s not a new concept. The British did “air policing” in the Middle East and Africa between the two world wars.

Policing the Empire and activities in Great Britain

Following the end of World War I and the accompanying British defence cuts, the newly-independent RAF took up the task of policing the British Empire from the air. It was argued that the use of air power would prove to be a more cost-effective way of controlling large areas than by using conventional land forces. Sir Hugh Trenchard, the Chief of the Air Staff, had formulated ideas about the use of aircraft in colonial policing and these were first put into practice in 1920 when the RAF and imperial ground units defeated rebel Somaliland dervishes. The following year, in 1921, the RAF was given responsibility for all British forces in Iraq with the task of ‘policing’ the tribal unrest. The RAF also saw service in Afghanistan in 1928, when following the outbreak of civil war, the British Legation and some European diplomatic staff based in Kabul were cut off. The operation to rescue them, the Kabul Airlift, was the first evacuation of civilians by air.

OK, on to the subject at hand. I have several concerns regarding the use of drones. They’re strategic in nature, because tactically they make a lot of sense.

Basically, I’m afraid that drones will finish cutting the break lines on declarations of war. They’re easy, from our point of view they are pretty much bloodless, and as a result Congress doesn’t get much pressure to tell the president to wait for a declaration of war.

And since drones suffer the same problem as aircraft it puts us in a major potential bind. That problem, by the way, is that it takes a couple of boots on the ground to actually hold that piece of ground. Air, barring genocide, does not conclude wars. Air power advocates have argued “this time is different” pretty much since they began trying, but it doesn’t work.

Add to this the easy way this can slip over into domestic use. From surveillance only to heavily overseen overwatch to … I dunno.

It annoys me that I find myself in agreement with Senator Rand, but stopped clocks and all that.

I believe things are different technologically. We’ve made great strides in advancing military tactics that minimize collateral damage. We can even start in the late 1960s and look back at the carpet bombing large swaths of land in North Vietnam and Cambodia utilizing dumb bombs. Napalm which was used in Vietnam. Most aircraft in Vietnam dropped their bombs In other war fronts rolling barrages of massive of amounts of artillery was used. Advanced guidance and smart bombs began to change everything. Lower yield munitions are being developed.

Drones are also far better than using cruise missiles and regular naval or air force air power. Drones provide sustained on the scene surveillance of a target before launching a Hellfire. Changes can be made up to the last minute. Otherwise it would be an F-18 coming in hot and planting a smart well placed bomb on the designated target. No adjustments can be made for any possible placement of human shields at the last minute.

It’s not a new concept. The British did “air policing” in the Middle East and Africa between the two world wars.

They’re not the only ones. But the thing is that there is some significant (though subtle) difference between drones and manned aircraft.

FWIW I’m not entirely averse to the air patrolling itself. And in fact I think increased surveillance in the US is inevitable and, in general, good. (The whole privacy discussion is worth having, but the short is that like a lot of other things generational expectations are significantly different.)

But it concerns me - a lot - that the way we’re mostly bringing in drones for law enforcement is as ‘special systems’ which are a subset of special weapons. It concerns me even more that we’re bringing them in but NOT hammering out a public policy. Cap that with the realization there is a policy, but it’s classified.

Look theres no reason to fear these guys,I have it on good authority that Capt.Jonathan Archer and T’Pol are coming back in time to fix this mess that the Reptilian and Insectoid races of the Zyndi caused.Instead of stealing a truck I’m going to loan them one of my cars. So it’s ok Starfleet is in the case…

Wait, I’m a Black American, and I had to read about this secret plan that I’m supposed to be a part of on LGF? Wow, I really am out of touch!! This is another lie that these bozos pulled from their asses, the same place where they find their other nutso conspiracy theories.

They were fine as long as they could be bigots and discriminate against others they don’t like in a mainly covert manner, but when Barack Obama became president, having a blah in the WH was more than they could take. They then proceeded to take their “show” on the road and make their racism and bigotry a part of the political and social landscape, and they found many who were willing to listen to their racist crap. We have a lot of people like this down here in GA. They attend church and Bible study religiously while fully embracing racism and bigotry, cause see, Jesus told them it’s okay to live this way. Now, I feel sick.

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By Chris MooneyThe Washington Post First, let's get one thing straight. Despite what you may have heard, it is cow burps, not cow flatulence, that are the real climate change problem. Here's how it works: Cows digest their food in ...

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Thousands of people gathered in cities across the country on Saturday night to protest against the racist and homophobic attacks of the past few days. The demonstrations come in response to Thursday's mass stabbing attack at the Jerusalem Pride ...

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Saudi Arabia has reiterated its call on the international community to criminalize any act vilifying religious beliefs and symbols of faith as well as all kinds of discrimination based on religion. "We have made it clear that freedom of ...

Fewer than four hundred families are responsible for almost half the money raised in the 2016 presidential campaign, a concentration of political donors that is unprecedented in the modern era. The vast majority of the $388 million backing presidential ...

Over the course of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the number of civilian deaths has been staggering. In Afghanistan, more than 26,000 civilians are estimated to have died since the war began in 2001. In Iraq, conservative tallies ...

People who regularly read my byline will recall that back in April I wrote about poor Scott Walker making a huge gaffe just as it seemed like the Koch brothers, his presumed benefactors, were ready to go all-in on ...

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A man who became agitated about his next-door neighbor mowing her lawn at night shot her and then ran a push mower over her body, authorities said Friday. Newsnet5 reported on Wednesday that Linda Ciotto, 62, was shot in ...

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spent Wednesday night at Duke University Law School, reflecting on the term that just ended and other major decisions during her tenure. As the New York Times reported, she talked about what she ...

So this showed up at my house today, it's an election mailer from one Jeffrey Guice who is running for re-election to the Mississippi State Senate. As you can see, it included an interesting detail... So basically he's taking pride ...

I was catching-up with Cracked articles. I found an obvious click-bait article, "4 Sexual Preferences That Only Recently Became Taboo": cracked.com Knowing that, I read it anyway. From there, I read a depressing article, "5 Ways College Screws Over Poor ...

So I downloaded the Win 10 ISO image today, and started the install. The first thing I come across is a screen asking what I want to keep, my apps, data, and program settings, my data and program settings, or ...

Dirct Link: Huffington Post Arabic - Kudos! Good to see this. The link takes you right there, but for us non arabic readers, a helpful translate panel comes right up. You who do read arabic can judge the content, ...

NYT -- More Edited PP Videos in the Pipeline The activist behind the videos, David Daleiden, has said he has enough covertly recorded footage for perhaps a dozen videos that he could release, one a week, for the next few ...

haaretz.com From the article: Swedish nationalists are planning a gay 'pride' march through Muslim-majority districts in the country's capital, according to media reports and a dedicated Facebook page. The march, called 'Pride J&auml;rva,' is scheduled to take place on July ...

Democratic presidential candidates should take heed. They need to come up with a way to speak to this issue. Otherwise, in an Obama-less election, part of the Obama coalition may not be motivated to show up. Obviously, you can be ...

Frank says:

Drop out of school, before your mind rots from exposure to our mediocre educational system. Go to the library and educate yourself if you've got any guts... -- Quoted from an article on FZ in the June 1995 issue of "SLUG" magazine. Article titled "Zappa behind the Sneer. I think the magazine may be a local (Salt Lake City) publication.